Managing communications utilizing communication categories

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and computer-readable mediums for managing communications on telecommunication devices utilizing communication categories are provided. A subset of contacts accessible by a telecommunication device are associated with one or more communication categories. Each communication category can be associated with a set of communication activities. Based on a selection of a specific contact, a telecommunication device can generate a display having display objects representative of communication categories associated with the selected contact. Additionally, based on a selection of a communication category, the telecommunication device can further generate a display including display objects representative of a set of communication activities corresponding to the selected communication category.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/413,397, entitled MANAGING COMMUNICATIONS UTILIZING COMMUNICATIONCATEGORIES and filed Mar. 27, 2009, the entirety of which isincorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

Generally described, telecommunication devices and communicationnetworks facilitate the collection and exchange of information.Utilizing a communication network and relevant communication protocols,a telecommunication device can engage in audio or data communicationswith other telecommunication devices, such as voice calls, video calls,messaging (e.g., short message service (“SMS”) or multimedia messagingservice (“MMS”)), content streaming, instant messaging, resourcebrowsing (e.g., Web browsing), and the like.

To facilitate communications, telecommunication devices can beassociated with software and hardware components that allow thetelecommunication device to maintain contact information, such astelephone numbers, email addresses, messaging addresses, etc., utilizedto establish and engage in communications via available communicationchannels. Typically, such contact information is maintained as contactinformation in which all known contact information for an identifiedentity, such as user, can be presented to a telecommunication deviceuser. For example, a telecommunication device may present a userinterface in which the contact information associated with a selectedindividual is presented in a list-based format. In another example, atelecommunication device with voice calling functionality may maintain a“last call list” that keeps track of telephone numbers of the mostrecent incoming or outgoing calls from the telecommunication device.

Although contact management user interfaces and software can facilitatethe input and management of contact information for a larger set ofcontacts, typical contact management approaches can become deficient asthe set of entities associated with a user grows. In one example,typical call list approaches are limited in the number of contactsidentified in the user interfaces (e.g., the last 4 numbers called).Accordingly, such approaches can become deficient as the number ofincoming or outgoing communications (e.g., voice calls) increasesbecause potentially desired contacts are removed from the display basedon order of the most recent incoming or outgoing communications.

In another example, typical contact management approaches relate to thepresentation of the entire set of contacts that are associated with auser, such as in alphabetical order. As the number of contactsmaintained in the telecommunication device, or on behalf of thetelecommunication device increases, users may have increased difficultyin identifying contact information for specific entities. Additionally,for each contact, the typical contact management approach identifies allknown contact information (e.g., phone numbers, IM aliases, emailaddresses, etc.) without regard to a desired, or preferred,communication method. Additionally, the typical contact managementapproach does not take into account the manner in which the contact wasselected in presenting contact information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thepresent disclosure will become more readily appreciated as the samebecome better understood by reference to the following detaileddescription, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrative of a telecommunicationenvironment including a number of telecommunication devices and acommunication processing service;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrative of components of atelecommunication device for use in the generation, management, anddisplay of communication category and communication activityinformation;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are block diagrams of the telecommunication environmentof FIG. 1 illustrating the interaction between a telecommunicationdevice and a communication management service for presentingcommunication categories and communication activities to atelecommunication device user;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrative of a communication categorydetermination routine implemented by a communication management serviceto generate communication category information;

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrative of a communication activitydetermination routine implemented by a communication management serviceto communication activity information;

FIGS. 6A-6C are illustrative user interfaces generated on atelecommunication device for presenting a subset of contacts associatedwith a telecommunications device user for selection;

FIGS. 7A and 7B are illustrative user interfaces generated on atelecommunication device for presenting communication categoriesassociated with a selected contact; and

FIGS. 8A and 8B are illustrative user interfaces generated on atelecommunication device for presenting a set of communicationactivities associated with a selected communication activity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally described, aspects of the present disclosure relate to themanagement of contact information utilizing communication category andcommunication activity information. In an illustrative embodiment, asubset of contacts accessible by a telecommunication device can beassociated with one or more communication categories. Illustratively,communication categories correspond to a logical organization of one ormore communication activities that can be initiated, or cause to beinitiated, by the telecommunication device. The communication categoriesdo not correspond to the communication activities. Rather, theyrepresent a collection of specific communication activities that areintended to achieve types of communication. Examples of communicationcategories can include, but are not limited to, sharing, calling,messaging, posting, broadcasting, and the like.

For a selected contact, the telecommunication device can generate adisplay that provides a user with a display of available (or possible)telecommunication categories associated with the selected contact. Thedisplay may be based on processing context information associated withthe user, the selected contact, service plans, etc. Additionally, thedisplay may be prioritized according to user profile information,preference information, historical information, etc. Upon selection of aspecific communication category, the telecommunication device can thengenerate additional displays that identify a set of communicationactivities corresponding to the selected communication category. Forexample, for a selected messaging communication category, thetelecommunication device may generate a display that identifies email,SMS, MMS, IM, Twitter, or other social networking sites as possiblecommunication activities that correspond to the communication category.The identification of specific communication activities may be processedon context information or prioritized according to user profile,preference or historical information. Additionally, the activities maybe configured in a manner such that selection of a specificcommunication activity initiates the selected communication activitywith the selected contact (e.g., an SMS message configured with theappropriate identifier for the selected contact).

Although aspects of the present disclosure will be described with regardto an illustrative telecommunication environment and componentinteractions, communication protocols, flow diagrams and userinterfaces, one skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that thedisclosed embodiments are illustrative in nature and should not beconstrued as limiting. Specifically, although the term telecommunicationdevice is used in this document, the term represents any type of devicehaving a component for communicating with one or more other devices viaone or more communication paths. Such communication paths can includewireless communication paths (via infra-red, RF, optical, terrestrial,or satellite communication media) and wired communication paths.Additionally, although the present disclosure references atelecommunication device, one skilled in the relevant art willappreciate that a telecommunication device may also be referred to as awireless computing device, a mobile communication device, or a computingdevice. Examples of telecommunication devices are described below withregard to FIG. 1. Accordingly, reference to a telecommunication deviceshould not be interpreted as including any particular functionality oroperation not described in the present disclosure. Still further,although the present disclosure is described with regard to specificdisplays and specific methodologies and frameworks for generatingcommunication categories and identifying communication activities, thepresent disclosure should not be construed to require combination of thedisclosed embodiments or any specific variation unless such combinationor variation is expressly identified.

With reference now to FIG. 1, a block diagram illustrative of atelecommunication environment 100 will be described. Thetelecommunication environment 100 can include a communication service102. In an illustrative embodiment, the communication service 102 may beutilized to provide, maintain or transmit communication category orcommunication activity information to one or more telecommunicationdevices, as will be described below.

The communication category or communication activity information may begenerated, at least in part, from information corresponding tointeraction with individual users of telecommunication devices andmaintained in a data store 110. Additionally, the communication service102 may obtain additional information from external sources, such asnetwork-based data sources 120. The additional information may becomepart of the communication category or communication activityinformation. Additionally, the additional information may be used by thecommunication service 102 to generate or process the communicationcategory or communication activity information. Such network-based datasources may include web sites, location based services, social networkservices, telecommunication services, message publication services, etc.While the data store 110 is depicted in FIG. 1 as being local to thecommunication service 102, those skilled in the art will appreciate thatthe data store 110 may be remote to the communication service 102 and/ormay be a network based service itself.

While the communication service 102 is depicted in FIG. 1 as implementedby a single computing device in the telecommunication environment 100,this is illustrative only. The communication service 102 may be embodiedin a plurality of computing devices, each executing an instance of thecommunication service. A server or other computing device implementingthe communication service 102 may include memory, processing unit(s),and computer readable medium drive(s), all of which may communicate withone another by way of a communication bus. The network interface mayprovide connectivity over the network 118 and/or other networks orcomputer systems. The processing unit(s) may communicate to and frommemory containing program instructions that the processing unit(s)executes in order to operate the communication service 102. The memorygenerally includes RAM, ROM, and/or other persistent and auxiliarymemory.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the communication service 102 can include anexternal data source interface component 104 for obtaining externalinformation from network data sources 120, such as location data,contact data, and other supplemental data that can be incorporated,directly or indirectly, into the communication category or communicationactivity information. Examples of external information can includeimages of an event location, digital media, social networkinginformation, and the like. The communication service 102 can alsoinclude a device interface component 106 for obtaining information fromone or more telecommunication devices (e.g., location data fortelecommunication device(s), IP addresses assigned to computingdevice(s), etc.). The communication service 102 can further include acommunication management component 108 for processing telecommunicationdevice information and external information in generating various typesof communication category and communication activity information or toprovide communication category or communication activity informationupon request.

One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the communicationservice 102 may correspond to a number of computer devices, such asserver computing devices. Additionally, the external data sourceinterface component 104, device interface component 106, andcommunication management component 108 may be implemented in a singlecomputing device or across multiple computing devices. One skilled inthe relevant art will also appreciate that the communication service 102may include any one of a number of additional hardware and softwarecomponents that would be utilized in the illustrative computerizednetwork environment to carry out the illustrative functions of theservice 102 or any of the individually identified components.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, the telecommunication devicecommunication environment 100 can include a number of telecommunicationdevices 112 or other computing devices 122, each associated with a user.The telecommunication devices 112 or other computing devices 122 cangenerate the displays that facilitate interaction of a user with otherusers or other network-based resources. The telecommunication devices112 can correspond to a wide variety of devices or components that arecapable of initiating, receiving or facilitating communications over acommunication network including, but not limited to, personal computingdevices, electronic book readers (e.g., e-book readers), hand heldcomputing devices, integrated components for inclusion in computingdevices, home electronics, appliances, vehicles, machinery, landlinetelephones, network-based telephones (e.g., voice over IP (“VoIP”),cordless telephones, cellular telephones, smart phones, modems, personaldigital assistants, laptop computers, gaming devices, media devices, andthe like. In an illustrative embodiment, the telecommunication devices112 include a wide variety of software and hardware components forestablishing communications over one or more communication networks,including wireless communication network 114, a wired communicationnetwork (not shown), or an IP-based telecommunication network (notshown). Illustrative components of a telecommunication device 112 willbe described in greater detail with regard to FIG. 2.

In an illustrative embodiment, the telecommunication devicecommunication environment 100 can include a number of additionalcomponents, systems and/or subsystems for facilitating communicationswith the telecommunication devices 112 or the communication service 102.The additional components can include one or more switching centers 116for establishing communications with the telecommunication devices 112via the wireless communication network 114, such as a cellular radioaccess network, a wireless network based on the family of IEEE 802.11technical standards (“WiFi”), a wireless network based on IEEE 802.16standards (“WiMax”), a converged wireless telecommunication network suchas Unlicensed Mobile Access (“UMA”), or General Access Network (“GAN”),and other wireless networks. The operation of mobile communicationnetworks, such as wireless communication network 114 are well known andwill not be described in greater detail. As illustrated in FIG. 1, themobile switching center 116 includes interfaces for establishing variouscommunications via a communication network 118, such as the Internet,intranets, private networks and point to point networks, generallyreferred to as the “network.” Although the wireless communicationnetwork 114 is illustrated as a single communication network, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the communicationnetwork can be made up of any number of public or private communicationnetworks and/or network connections.

As noted above, the telecommunication device communication environment100 can further include one or more network data sources 120 forproviding external information to the communication service 102. Thenetwork data sources 120 may include a number of computing devices forobtaining and processing requests for information from either thecommunication service 102 and/or the telecommunication devices 112.

With reference now to FIG. 2, illustrative components of atelecommunication device, such as telecommunication device 112, for usein the generation of displays including communication category andcommunication activity information will be described. Thetelecommunication device 112 may include one or more processing units202, such as one or more CPUs. The telecommunication device 112 may alsoinclude system memory 204, which may correspond to any combination ofvolatile and/or non-volatile storage mechanisms. The system memory 204may store information which provides an operating system component 206,various program components 208, program data 210, a communicationmanagement module 222 and/or other components. As will be explained ingreater detail below, the communication management module 222 stored insystem memory of the telecommunication device 112 may perform all orsome of the functions described above in connection with the dataprocessing component 109 of the communication service 102 (FIG. 1). Theabove-enumerated list of components is representative and is notexhaustive of the types of functions performed, or componentsimplemented, by the telecommunication device 112. One skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that additional or alternative componentsmay also be included in the telecommunication device 112 to carry outother intended functions such as a mobile telephone functions.

The telecommunication device 112 performs functions by using theprocessing unit(s) 202 to execute instructions provided by the systemmemory 204. The telecommunication device 112 may also include one ormore input devices 212 (keyboard, mouse device, specialized selectionkeys, etc.) and one or more output devices 214 (displays, printers,audio output mechanisms, etc.). Illustrative user interfaces for atelecommunication device 112 will be described with regard to FIGS. 4,7, and 8, described below.

With continued reference to FIG. 2, the telecommunication device 112 mayalso include one or more types of removable storage 216 and one or moretypes of non-removable storage 218. Still further, the telecommunicationdevice 112 can include communication components 220 for facilitatingcommunication via wired and wireless communication networks, such as thewireless communication network 114 and network 118 (FIG. 1). Examples ofvarious communication protocols include, but are not limited to,Bluetooth, the family of IEEE 802.11 technical standards (“WiFi”), theIEEE 802.16 standards (“WiMax), short message service (“SMS”), voiceover IP (“VoIP”) as well as various generation cellular air interfaceprotocols (including, but not limited to, air interface protocols basedon CDMA, TDMA, GSM, WCDMA, CDMA2000, TD-SCDMA, WTDMA, LTE, OFDMA, andsimilar technologies).

As previously described, in accordance with an aspect of the presentdisclosure, a telecommunication device 112 can generate one or moredisplays on a user interface via an output device 114. In anillustrative embodiment, the displays include various display objectsthat represent communication categories, communication activities, orcombinations thereof. In an illustrative embodiment, display objects maybe selectable by a user via any one of a variety of input methods anddevices. Additionally, the determination of the display objects that areincluded in the displays may be predetermined, automatically determined(in real time or semi-real time), or manually configured/managedaccording to user-specified criteria. Further, the display andformatting of the display objects and the illustrative displays may bespecified according to specific telecommunication device capabilities,service provider specifications, or user configurations.

With reference now to FIGS. 3A and 3B, illustrative interactions withthe components of the telecommunication environment 100 for thegeneration of displays including communication categories andcommunication activities will be described. Although the presentdisclosure will be described with regard to interactions between atelecommunication device 112 and a communication service 102 via acommunication network 108, one skilled in the relevant art willappreciate that such interaction may be practiced between alternativecomponents in the telecommunication environment 100 or in conjunctionwith additional components. Accordingly, the illustrated interaction inFIGS. 3A and 3B should not be construed as limiting.

With reference to FIG. 3A, a user of a telecommunication device 112accesses the telecommunication device and is presented with a subset ofcontacts. The subset of contacts can correspond to a user, or useraccount. At some point, the telecommunication device 112 obtains a userselection of a contact from the subset of contacts available. Forexample, the user may select a display object on a display screencorresponding to a specific contact. Examples screen displays forselecting display objects corresponding to contacts will be describedwith regard to FIGS. 6A-6C.

A communication service 102 obtains and processes the user selection ofa contact. Specifically, in an illustrative embodiment, thecommunication service 102 identifies one or more communicationcategories that correspond to the selected contact. The communicationservice 102 can then generate a display, or provide information suchthat the telecommunication device 112 can generate, that includesdisplay objects representative of the identified communicationcategories.

With reference now to FIG. 3B, a user may be presented with any one of avariety of displays that identify the communication categoriesassociated with a selected contact. Illustrative displays having displayobjects corresponding to communication categories will be described withregard to FIGS. 7A and 7B. As will be explained in greater detail below,the communication category display objects may be displayed on thetelecommunication device 112 in a display that only includes othercommunication category display objects. Alternatively, the communicationcategory display objects may be displayed on the telecommunicationdevice 112 in a display that may include other communication categorydisplay objects, one or more communication activity display objects, orother display objects. Thereafter, the telecommunication device 112obtains a user selection of a specific communication category, which istransmitted to the communication service 102. The communication service102 processes the selected communication category to identify one ormore communication activities associated with the selected communicationcategory. The communication service 102 can then generate a display, orprovide information such that the telecommunication device 112 cangenerate, that includes display objects representative of the identifiedcommunication activities. Accordingly, the telecommunication device 112can process a selection of a communication activity, or activities, toinitiate or have initiated the selected communication activity.

With reference now to FIGS. 4 and 5, flow diagrams illustrative ofvarious routines implemented by a communication service 102 to generatecommunication category information and communication activityinformation will be described. Such routines will be described as beinggenerally performed by the communication service 102. However, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that actions/steps outlinedfor either routine may be implemented by one or many computingdevices/components that are associated with the telecommunicationenvironment 100. Accordingly, any functionality described in referenceto either routine could be generally performed by any component in thetelecommunication device management environment 100, includingcommunication management module 222 of the telecommunication device 112,other modules, or combinations thereof. Thus, the following illustrativeembodiments should not be construed as limiting.

Turning to FIG. 4, a flow diagram of an illustrative of a communicationcategory determination routine 400 implemented by a communicationmanagement service to generate communication category information willbe described. At block 402, the communication service 102 obtains aselection of a contact. In an illustrative embodiment, any one of avariety of methodologies may be utilized to present users of atelecommunication device 112 with at least a subset of contacts forselection. Three illustrative screen displays for the selection ofcontacts will be described below with regard to FIGS. 6A-6C. In anillustrative embodiment, the selection of the contact may be achievedutilizing a variety of input methods and hardware or software componentsin the telecommunications device 112. Examples include, but are notlimited to, touch screen interfaces, specialized keys, stylus or otherinput devices, software based menus, voice commands, and the like.

At block 404, the communication service 102 identifies one or morecommunication categories associated with the selected contact. Aspreviously described, the communication categories relate to a groupingcommunication activities in which a user of the telecommunication device112 can initiate communication with the selected contact via thetelecommunication device 112, or other computing device 122. Examples ofcommunication categories include, but are not limited to, directcommunication, group communication, synchronous communication,asynchronous communication, immediate communication, delayedcommunication, personal communication, voice calling, video calling,messaging, publishing, sharing, distributing, public communication, andthe like. Additionally, in some embodiments, communication categoriesbeing associated with the same or substantially similar sets ofcommunication activities may be labeled differently by a serviceprovider or a telecommunication device user.

In an illustrative embodiment, the communication categories associatedwith a selected contact may be predetermined or otherwise staticallydetermined and maintained in the data store 110 (FIG. 1). Accordingly,the identification of the communication categories by the communicationservice 102 relates to recalling and processing the static data. Inanother embodiment, the communication service 102, or other component orservice, may dynamically determine the communication categories that areto be associated with the selected contact. In such a dynamicdetermination embodiment, the communication service 102 may maintain aset of possible communication categories that may be utilized and filterthe set of possible communication categories as applicable.Additionally, the communication service 102 can obtain additionalinformation associated with the selected contact, such as pollingcomputing devices associated with the selected contact, accessing userprofile or preference information, etc. to identify availablecommunication categories or to filter possible communication categoryinformation. The communication service 102 may maintain the results of adynamic determination, such as in a data cache, to reuse thecommunication category information for some period of time.

At block 406, the communication service 102 process the communicationcategory information, at least in part, based on context information.Generally described, context information can correspond to informationthat is published, or otherwise made available, about current or futureavailability of communication categories or communication activities foran identified entity. Context information can include indications ofwhether specific communication categories or communication activitiesare available and a duration of such availability or unavailability(e.g., no voice calls from 4 to 6 pm). Context information can alsoinclude preference information indicating preferred communicationcategories or communication activities for the identified entity (e.g.,prefer to receive SMS or MMS messages during scheduled meetings).Context information may be expressly published by the identified entityor determined by reference to various information sources, such ascalendaring information, location information, etc. Additionally,context information may be applied as general rules for all attempts tocommunicate with the identified entity or selectively applied tospecific individuals or types of individuals (e.g., allow voice callsfrom any entity associated with a “high priority label” in my addressbook).

Illustratively, the communication service 102 can obtain informationabout the user associated with the telecommunication device 112, theselected contact, or both. Based on the collected context information,the communication service 102 can determine whether one or morecommunication categories are not currently available. In anotherexample, the communication service 102 can determine whether one or morecommunication categories should be prioritized based on preferencesidentified in the context information. In still a further example, thecommunication service 102 can modify the communication categoryinformation to conform to the context information. For example, if thecontext information indicates that only voice calls to a landline areavailable, a communication category corresponding to “voice calls” wouldhave to be configured such that only voice calls to landlines would bepresented as an option. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciatethat block 406 may be omitted altogether or partially implemented inaccordance with user preference, service provider preferences, and theavailability of context information to the communication service 102.

At block 408, the communication service 102 generates one or moredisplays that include the identified contact information. Illustrativescreen displays having display objects representative of communicationcategory information will be described with regard to FIGS. 7A and 7B.One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate the screen displays willbe generated on the telecommunication device 112. Accordingly, thecommunication service 102 may generate the displays for display on thetelecommunications device 112 or otherwise provide information necessaryfor the displays to be generated on the telecommunication device 112. Atblock 410, the routine 400 terminates.

Turning now to FIG. 5, a flow diagram of an illustrative of acommunication activity determination routine 500 implemented by acommunication management service to generate communication activityinformation will be described. As previously described, in anillustrative embodiment, communication category information does notcorrespond to a communication activity. Rather, communication categoryinformation relates to a set of communication activities or a collectionof communication activities that are further identified to the user oftelecommunication device 112. Accordingly, to initiate a specificcommunication activity associated with a communication category, a userof a telecommunication device can select a specific communicationcategory and be subsequently presented with the set of communicationactivities associated with the selected communication categories.However, as will be explained below with reference to illustrativescreen displays, in one embodiment, users may be presented with displaysthat can incorporate a combination of data objects representative ofcommunication categories and communication activities.

At block 502, the communication service 102 obtains a selection of acommunication category. As previously described with regard to routine400 (FIG. 4), any one of a variety of methodologies may be utilized topresent users of a telecommunication device 112 with at least a subsetof contacts for selection. The selection of communication categories maybe achieved utilizing a variety of input methods and hardware orsoftware components in the telecommunications device 112. At block 504,the communication service 102 identifies one or more communicationactivities associated with the selected communication category. Examplesof communication activities that may be associated with one or morecommunication categories include, but are not limited to, voice calls,video calls, VoIP calls or other packet-based communications, SMS, MMS,Web logs (Blogs), micro-Blogs, electronic mail, voicemail, locationpublication, text to speech, speech to text, audio files/dictation,social network APIs, other network resource interfaces, search engineinputs, and the like. Additionally, in an illustrative embodiment, acommunication activity may be defined not only in terms of theunderlying method of communication, but also in the specificconfiguration of the method of communication. For example, a SMScommunication activity may be defined in terms of both the type ofmessage to be delivered and the configuration of the specific addressees(or other parameters) for the message.

In an illustrative embodiment, the communication activities associatedwith a selected communication category may be predetermined or otherwisestatically determined and maintained in the data store 110 (FIG. 1).Accordingly, the identification of the communication activities by thecommunication service 102 relates to recalling and processing the staticdata. In another embodiment, the communication service 102, or othercomponent or service, may dynamically determine the communicationactivities that are to be associated with the selected communicationcategory. In such a dynamic determination embodiment, the communicationservice 102 may maintain a set of possible communication activities thathave been associated with at least a subset of communication categoriesand filter the set of possible communication activities as applicable.Additionally, the communication service 102 can obtain additionalinformation associated with the selected contact, such as pollingcomputing devices associated with the selected contact, accessing userprofile or preference information, etc. to identify availablecommunication activities or to filter possible communication activityinformation. The communication service 102 may maintain the results of adynamic determination, such as in a data cache, to reuse thecommunication activity information for some period of time.Additionally, the communication service 102 may identify or determinethe communication activity information as part of the determination ofcommunication category information (block 404 of FIG. 4). In such anembodiment, block 504 may be omitted or partially performed, such as tocheck for updates or expired data.

At block 506, the communication service 102 process the communicationactivity information, at least in part, based on context information. Aspreviously described, context information can correspond to informationthat is published, or otherwise made available, about current or futureavailability of communication categories or communication activities foran identified entity. Context information can include indications ofwhether specific communication categories or communication activitiesare available and a duration of such availability or unavailability(e.g., no SMS messages after 8 pm). Context information can also includepreference information indicating preferred communication categories orcommunication activities for the identified entity (e.g., prefer toreceive SMS or MMS messages during scheduled meetings). Contextinformation may be expressly published by the identified entity ordetermined by reference to various information sources, such ascalendaring information, location information, etc. Additionally,context information may be applied as general rules for all attempts tocommunicate with the identified entity or selectively applied tospecific individuals or types of individuals (e.g., allow voice callsfrom any entity associated with a “high priority label” in my addressbook).

Illustratively, the communication service 102 can obtain informationabout the user associated with the telecommunication device 112, theselected contact, or both. Based on the collected context information,the communication service 102 can determine whether one or morecommunication activities otherwise identified with the selectedcommunication category are not currently available. In another example,the communication service 102 can determine whether one or morecommunication activities should be prioritized based on preferencesidentified in the context information. In still a further example, thecommunication service 102 can modify the communication activityinformation to conform to the context information. One skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that block 506 may be omitted altogether orpartially implemented in accordance with user preference, serviceprovider preferences, and the availability of context information to thecommunication service 102. Additionally, some or all of the processingassociated with block 506 may be performed as part of the processing ofcontext information for the determination of communication categories atblock 406 (FIG. 4). Similarly, block 506 may be performed even if theprocessing of context information for the determination of communicationcategories at block 406 is omitted. An example of a system, method andinterface for displaying and prioritizing communication activitiesaccording to individual context is described in co-pending and commonlyassigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/133,324, entitled“Messaging Device for Delivering Messages to Recipients Based onAvailability and Preferences of Recipients,” which is incorporated byreference herein.

At block 508, the communication service 102 generates one or moredisplays that include the identified communication activities for theselected communication category. Illustrative screen displays havingdisplay objects representative of communication category informationwill be described with regard to FIGS. 8A and 8B. One skilled in therelevant art will appreciate the screen displays will be generated onthe telecommunication device 112. Accordingly, the communication service102 may generate the displays for display on the telecommunicationsdevice 112 or otherwise provide information necessary for the displaysto be generated on the telecommunication device 112. At block 510, thecommunication service 102 obtains a selection of a specificcommunication activity and initiates the communication activity at block514. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the initiationof communication activities may be controlled solely by thetelecommunication device 112. Accordingly, block 510 and 512 may beomitted altogether. Alternatively, in the event that the communicationactivity requires interaction with other components in thetelecommunication environment 100, the communication service 102 maywork in conjunction with the telecommunication device 112 or on behalfof the telecommunication device to initiate the communication activity,or otherwise cause the communication activity to be performed. At block514, the routine 500 terminates.

With reference now to FIGS. 6A-6C, illustrative user interfacesgenerated on a telecommunication device for presenting a subset ofcontacts associated with a telecommunications device user for selectionwill be described. One skilled in the relevant art will appreciate thatthe screen display are illustrative in nature and should be construed aslimiting. With reference to FIG. 6A, one embodiment of a user interfacegenerated by the telecommunications device 112 for facilitating theselection of contacts will be described. In this embodiment, a displayscreen 600 includes a first portion 602 for displaying movement of a setof graphical identifiers about an axis external to thetelecommunications device 112. The graphical identifiers can beconsidered display objects 402 in which each display object correspondsto a specific contact. For example, the display objects 402 maycorrespond to contacts that have been identified by the user as“favorites” or in which audio call communications are under a specialservice provider rate plan. As the rotation of the display objects 402is emulated, one display object is manipulated to be the focal point ofthe interface, as illustrated on display object 604. Accordingly, theuser can select the contact associated with the focal point displayobject 604. Depending on the capabilities of the telecommunicationdevice 112, other display objects may also be selectable.

With reference to FIG. 6B, another embodiment of a user interfacegenerated by the telecommunications device 112 for facilitating theselection of contacts will be described. In this embodiment, a displayscreen 600 includes a first portion 610 for displaying display objectsrepresentative of contacts as part of a group-based information display.Specifically, the group-based information can be represented as adisplay that incorporates a selection of display objects 612corresponding to contacts and display objects 614 corresponding toapplications or other executable components. In this illustrativeembodiment, the display objects 612 may be selectable by a user of thetelecommunication device 112 in a variety of manners. Additionally, thedisplay objects 612 and 614 corresponding to the contacts andapplications and other executable components can be configured accordingto organizational criteria common to the objects.

With reference to FIG. 6C, another embodiment of a user interfacegenerated by the telecommunications device 112 for facilitating theselection of contacts will be described. In this embodiment, a displayscreen 600 includes a first portion 630 for displaying movement of a setof graphical identifiers about an axis. The graphical identifiers can beconsidered display objects 632 in which each display object correspondsto a specific contact. For example, the display objects 632 maycorrespond to contacts that have been identified by on behalf of theuser as the contacts most frequently accessed by the user. As therotation of the display objects 632 is emulated, a user can selected anyof the display objects 632. Alternatively, the size and formatting ofone or more of the display objects 632 may also be varied to facilitatefocus on particular display objects 632.

With reference now to FIGS. 7A and 7B, illustrative user interfacesgenerated on a telecommunication device for presenting communicationcategories for a selected contact will be described. One skilled in therelevant art will appreciate that the screen display are illustrative innature and should be construed as limiting. With reference to FIG. 7A,one embodiment of a user interface generated by the telecommunicationsdevice 112 for facilitating the display and selection of communicationcategories for a selected contact will be described. In this embodiment,a display screen 700 includes a first portion 702 for displayingcommunication categories. The first portion 702 includes one or moredisplay objects 704 that correspond to a representation of the selectedcontact, including text, graphics, multi-media and the like thatfacilitates the identification of the selected contact. As alsoillustrated in FIG. 7A, the first portion 702 also includes a set ofthree display objects 704, 706, and 708 that are representative ofcommunication categories, “SHARE,” “POST,” and “CALL,” respectively. Inthis embodiment, the first portion 702 only includes display objects704-708 that are representative of communication categories and does notinclude any display objects that are representative of communicationactivities. The display objects 704-708 may be selectable in variety ofmanners, as described above.

Turning now to FIG. 7B, another embodiment of a user interface generatedby the telecommunications device 112 for facilitating the display andselection of communication categories for a selected contact will bedescribed. In this embodiment, a display screen 700 includes a firstportion 720 for displaying communication categories. Similar to thescreen display described in FIG. 7A, the first portion 720 includes oneor more display objects 722 that correspond to a representation of theselected contact, including text, graphics, multi-media and the likethat facilitates the identification of the selected contact. The firstportion 720 also includes a set of four display objects 722-730,representative of communication categories. As previously discussed, thedisplay objects 722-730 may be selected, ordered, or otherwiseprioritized, according to a number of factors including preferenceinformation, historical use or other criteria.

With continued reference to FIG. 7B, in this embodiment, the firstportion 702 also includes a display object 732 that is notrepresentative of communication categories. Instead, display object 732corresponds to a communication activity that is selectable by a user andwill result in the initiation of a corresponding communication activity.In one example, display object 732 may correspond to a communicationactivity that is common to two or more communication categories 722-730.In another example, display object 732 may correspond to a communicationactivity that is not common to any communication categories or that isnot associated with the identified communication categories 722-730.

With reference now to FIGS. 8A and 8B, illustrative user interfacesgenerated on a telecommunication device for presenting communicationactivities will be described. One skilled in the relevant art willappreciate that the screen display are illustrative in nature and shouldbe construed as limiting. With reference to FIG. 8A, the display 800includes a first portion 802 for displaying movement of a set ofgraphical identifiers about an axis. The graphical identifiers can beconsidered display objects 804 are representative of communicationactivities that correspond to the selected contact 806 and a selectedcommunication category. For example, the display objects 802 maycorrespond to communication activities related to a “messaging”communication category, such as email, SMS, IM and MMS communicationactivities. As the rotation of the display objects 804 is emulated, auser can selected any of the display objects 804. Alternatively, thesize and formatting of one or more of the display objects 804 may alsobe varied to facilitate focus on particular display objects 804. Aspreviously described, the communication activities may be configuredbased on the selected communication category and the selected contact.

With reference to FIG. 8B, another embodiment of a user interfacegenerated by the telecommunications device 112 for facilitating thedisplay and selection of communication categories for a selected contactwill be described. In this embodiment, a display screen 800 includes afirst portion 820 for displaying communication categories. The firstportion 820 includes one or more display objects 822 that correspond toa representation of the selected contact, including text, graphics,multi-media and the like that facilitates the identification of theselected contact. The first portion 820 also includes a set of threedisplay objects 824, 826 and 828 that are representative ofcommunication activities relating to a calling communication activity,“HOME,” “MOBILE,” and “TEXT TO SPEECH,” respectively. As previouslydescribed, the communication activities may be configured based on theselected communication category and the selected contact.

In addition to the above-described illustrative screen displays,additional embodiments for arrangements of communication categories andassociated communication activities will be described. However, oneskilled in the relevant art will appreciate that the disclosedembodiments are not exhaustive of the communication categories orassociated communication activities that may be utilized in accordancewith the present application. Additionally, although specificcommunication categories will be described in pairs for illustrativepurposes, such examples should not be construed as requiring pairing ofany particular communication categories or excluding additional oralternative combinations.

In one embodiment, a first communication category, labeled “DirectCommunication,” corresponds to an organization of communicationactivities configured to result in a direct communication with theselected contact. The communication activities can illustrativelyinclude voice calls (configured to known calling identifiers associatedwith the selected contact) and SMS messaging. In the same embodiment,another communication category, labeled “Group Communication,”corresponds to an organization of communication activities to result incommunication with the selected contact non-direct communicationmethodologies. The communication activities can illustratively includeemails (configured according to a group distribution list), SMS messages(configured according to a group distribution list), Blogs, andmicro-Blogs.

In another embodiment, a first communication category, labeled“Communicate Now,” corresponds to an organization of communicationactivities configured to result in an immediate communication with theselected contact. The communication activities can illustrativelyinclude voice or video calls (configured to specific calling identifiersassociated with the selected contact), SMS messaging, and emailmessaging (configured in accordance with a high priority designation. Inthe same embodiment, another communication category, labeled“Communicate Later,” corresponds to an organization of communicationactivities to result in a non-immediate communication with the selectedcontact. The communication activities can illustratively include emails(configured according to a low priority designation), Blogs, andmicro-Blogs.

In a further embodiment, a first communication category, labeled“Synchronous Communication,” corresponds to an organization ofcommunication activities configured to elicit an immediate response fromthe selected contact. The communication activities can illustrativelyinclude voice or video calls (configured to specific calling identifiersassociated with the selected contact, SMS and MMS messaging, and IMmessaging. In the same embodiment, another communication category,labeled “Asynchronous Messaging,” corresponds to an organization ofcommunication activities to result in a non-immediate response from theselected contact. The communication activities can illustrativelyinclude emails, Blogs, and micro-Blogs.

In yet another embodiment, a first communication category, labeled“Family,” corresponds to an organization of communication activitiesconfigured to result in a communication with the selected contact thatincludes members of a group designated as “Family.” The communicationactivities can illustratively include Blogs, social networking APIs, andemails (configured according to a group distribution list). In the sameembodiment, another communication category, labeled “Individual,”corresponds to an organization of communication activities to result ina direct communication with the selected contact. The communicationactivities can illustratively include voice calls (configured to knowncalling identifiers associated with the selected contact) and SMSmessaging.

All of the processes described herein may be embodied in, and fullyautomated via, software code modules executed by one or more generalpurpose computers or processors. The code modules may be stored in anytype of computer-readable medium or other computer storage device. Someor all the methods may alternatively be embodied in specialized computerhardware. In addition, the components referred to herein may beimplemented in hardware, software, firmware or a combination thereof.

Conditional language such as, among others, “can,” “could,” “might” or“may,” unless specifically stated otherwise, are otherwise understoodwithin the context as used in general to convey that certain embodimentsinclude, while other embodiments do not include, certain features,elements and/or steps. Thus, such conditional language is not generallyintended to imply that features, elements and/or steps are in any wayrequired for one or more embodiments or that one or more embodimentsnecessarily include logic for deciding, with or without user input orprompting, whether these features, elements and/or steps are included orare to be performed in any particular embodiment.

Any process descriptions, elements or blocks in the flow diagramsdescribed herein and/or depicted in the attached figures should beunderstood as potentially representing modules, segments, or portions ofcode which include one or more executable instructions for implementingspecific logical functions or elements in the process. Alternateimplementations are included within the scope of the embodimentsdescribed herein in which elements or functions may be deleted, executedout of order from that shown, or discussed, including substantiallyconcurrently or in reverse order, depending on the functionalityinvolved as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

It should be emphasized that many variations and modifications may bemade to the above-described embodiments, the elements of which are to beunderstood as being among other acceptable examples. All suchmodifications and variations are intended to be included herein withinthe scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for managing communications comprising:a data store for maintaining information regarding communicationcategories and communication activities corresponding totelecommunication devices; a communication management component,implemented by executing instructions on a processor associated with atelecommunication device, the communication management componentoperative to: identify a subset of contacts associated with a user of atelecommunication device, wherein the subset of user contacts includes aportion of contacts accessible by the telecommunication device;determine first and second communication categories for the at leastsubset of contacts, wherein the first and second communicationcategories are associated with a set of communication activities,wherein the set of communication activities associated with the firstcommunication category and the set of communication activitiesassociated with the second communication category have at least onecommunication activity in common, and wherein the first and secondcommunication categories do not correspond to a communication activity;obtain a selection of a contact corresponding to the subset of contacts;cause the generation of a display on the telecommunication device, thedisplay including a representation of the first and second communicationcategories; obtain a selection of at least one of the first and secondcommunication category; cause the generation of a display on thetelecommunication device, the display including a representation atleast one of the set of communication activities associated with theselected communication category; obtain a selection of a communicationactivity; and cause the initiation of the selected communicationactivity on the telecommunication device.
 2. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the communication management component predeterminesthe first and second communication categories.
 3. The system as recitedin claim 1, wherein the communication management component dynamicallydetermines the first and second communication categories.
 4. The systemas recited in claim 1, wherein the display including the first andsecond communication categories does not include any display objectsrepresentative of a communication activity.
 5. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the display including the first and secondcommunication categories includes at least one display objectrepresentative of at least one communication activity associated withthe first and second communication activity.
 6. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the display including the first and secondcommunication categories includes at least one display objectrepresentative of at least one communication activity not associatedwith the first and second communication activity.
 7. The system asrecited in claim 1, wherein the communication management componentdetermines the first and second communication categories based on acontext of at least one of the user of the telecommunication device andat least one of the subset of contacts.
 8. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein at least one communication activity in the set ofcommunication activities associated with the first communicationcategory is determined according to a context of at least one of theuser of the telecommunication device and at least one of the subset ofcontacts.
 9. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the communicationmanagement component prioritizes the communication activities includedin the display on the telecommunication device including arepresentation at least one of the set of communication activitiesassociated with the selected communication category.
 10. The system asrecited in claim 9, wherein the communication management componentprioritizes based on at least one of a frequency of use, a costassociated with the communication activity, a last used communicationactivity, and a service provider rate plan.
 11. The system as recited inclaim 1, wherein the set of communication activities associated with thefirst communication category is determined prior to selection of thefirst communication category.
 12. The system as recited in claim 1,wherein the set of communication activities associated with the firstcommunication category is determined dynamically.
 13. The system asrecited in claim 12, wherein the communication management componentdetermines the set the communication activities associated with thefirst communication category upon selection of the communicationcategory.
 14. A computer-implemented method comprising: obtaining aselection of a subset of contacts associated with a user of atelecommunication device, wherein the subset of user contacts includes aportion of contacts accessible by the telecommunication device;determining one or more communication categories for the at least subsetof contacts, wherein the one or more communication categories areassociated with a set of communication activities and wherein the one ormore communication categories do not correspond to a communicationactivity; obtaining a selection of a contact corresponding to the subsetof contacts; causing the generation of a first display on thetelecommunication device, the display including a representation of theone or more communication categories; obtaining a selection of acommunication category represented in the display; causing thegeneration of a second display on the telecommunication device, thedisplay including a representation at least a portion of the set ofcommunication activities associated with the selected communicationcategory; obtaining a selection of a communication activity representedin the second display; and causing the initiation of the selectedcommunication activity on the telecommunication device.
 15. The methodas recited in claim 14, wherein determining one or more communicationcategories for the at least subset of contacts includes determining theone or more communication categories prior to obtaining the selection ofa contact corresponding to the subset of contacts.
 16. The method asrecited in claim 14, wherein determining one or more communicationcategories for the at least subset of contacts includes dynamicallydetermining the one or more communication categories upon obtaining theselection of a contact corresponding to the subset of contacts.
 17. Themethod as recited in claim 14, wherein the display including the one ormore communication categories does not include any display objectsrepresentative of a communication activity.
 18. The method as recited inclaim 14, wherein determining one or more communication categories forthe at least subset of contacts includes determining the one or morecommunication categories based on a context of at least one of the userof the telecommunication device and at least one of the subset ofcontacts.
 19. The method as recited in claim 14 further comprisingdetermining the set of communication activities associated with aselected communication category prior to obtaining the selection of thecommunication category.
 20. The method as recited in claim 14 furthercomprising dynamically determining the set of communication activitiesassociated with a selected communication category upon obtaining theselection of the communication category.
 21. The method as recited inclaim 14, wherein at least one communication activity in the set ofcommunication activities associated with the communication category isdetermined according to a context of at least one of the user of thetelecommunication device and at least one of the subset of contacts. 22.The method as recited in claim 14 further comprising prioritizing thecommunication activities included in the second display on thetelecommunication device.
 23. A system comprising: a data store formaintaining information regarding communication categories andcommunication activities corresponding to telecommunication devices; acommunication management component, implemented by executinginstructions on a processor, the communication management componentoperative to: identify a subset of contacts associated with a user of atelecommunication device, wherein the subset of user contacts includes aportion of contacts accessible by the telecommunication device;determine one or more communication categories for the at least subsetof contacts, wherein the one or more communication categories areassociated with a set of communication activities and wherein the one ormore communication categories do not correspond to a communicationactivity; and associate the one or more communication categoriesassociated for the at least subset of contacts in the data store. 24.The system as recited in claim 23, wherein the communication managementdynamically determines the one or more communication categories based ona selection of a contact from the subset of contacts.
 25. The system asrecited in claim 23, wherein the communication management componentcauses the generation of a display including representations of thesubset of contacts associated with the communication categories.
 26. Thesystem as recited in claim 25, wherein the display including the subsetof contacts associated with the communication categories includes onlyrepresentations of contacts associated with the communicationcategories.
 27. The system as recited in claim 23, wherein thecommunication management component is further operative to: obtain aselection of a contact corresponding to the subset of contacts; andcause the generation of a display on the telecommunication device, thedisplay including a representation of the determined one or morecommunication categories.
 28. The system as recited in claim 27, whereinthe communication management component is further operative to determineone or more communication activities associated with the one or morecommunication categories.
 29. The system as recited in claim 28, whereinthe communication management component is further operative to: obtain aselection of a communication category corresponding to the subset of oneor more communication categories; and cause the generation of a displayon the telecommunication device, the display including a representationof the determined one or more communication activities associated withthe selected communication category.
 30. The system as recited in claim23, wherein the communication management component is implemented byexecuting instructions on a processor associated with atelecommunication device.
 31. The system as recited in claim 23, whereinthe communication management component is implemented by executinginstructions on a processor associated with a network resource.